I am looking for a dedicated server for gaming. Something that could run a Counter-Strike: Source, Call of Duty 4, and Americas Army 3 server with 16 slots each, smoothly.
We don't need much hard drive space, just enough for the server files and maybe some custom content. My team's budget is around $65 to maybe $80. We need something around there and it would be great if we had the possibility to upgrade the server at a later time.
Locations we are interested in are: Texas, New York/New Jersey, and Washington DC.

I am currently looking at 1and1's dedicated servers, the "Dual-Core M" one for $69.99 with Windows. Do any of you think it would run the servers fine? Or maybe know of a better host?


Thank You

What operating system do you wish to run?

I am assuming you are looking for a Windows Server as per you initial post where you mention about the 1&1 Windows server deal.

Your budget is a tad bit low especially for a windows server but you can try dediwebhost.com, based out of California, you should be able to find something there.

Yeah, we are looking for Windows but Linux could work, I would just need to find out how to run game servers from it. I know our budget is very low for something like this but its all we can do for right now.

Have you considered just asking a gameserver provider if they would give you a discount for getting all three gameservers through them?

I would do that, but we will most likely use it for a few other small things as well. So, I thought it would be best to find a dedi to do the job.

What sort of other things? It may work out cheaper to just buy everything separately rather than getting a dedicated server. Perhaps there is a provider that could sort you out with everything?

Well we plan on changing which games we are running at some points and dont want to bother requesting the host to switch it to another game and have to wait. I know a few hosts that allow you to do that yourself but neither of them have a decent tick rate for counter strike servers. Also the voice server would add to the costs.

Even if the counter strike configuration wasn't an issue, with the cheapest provider I know it would still cost about the same as the dedicated I mentioned above. So, I think the extra $10 or so for the dedicated would be worth it in the long run since we would have complete control and could rent out a cheap teamspeak server or something to some fellow gamers.

Moved > Game Servers.

The budget seems to be a bit too low for a Good Windows server. Maybe you can get P4 at your budget with windows in it.

How much bandwidth would you be using?

The issue with your budget is that if you want to be on a good network for gaming (premium bandwidth, good routing, etc.), your budget is too low for a dedicated server. You can find budget servers for your price, but they won't be on the best networks (premium bandwidth is expensive)

Im sure the Athlon 4200+ X2 from 1and1 would be better than a P4 for game servers. As far as I know game servers dont use much bandwidth. I had a dedi before for these things that came with, I think, 1000gb/month and we never got anywhere near that. We had a Battlefield 2, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty: UO, and a teamspeak server running on it for about 4-5 months.

I'm not referring to the amount of bandwidth that you receive, I'm talking about the quality of bandwidth. Better bandwidth can result in better pings, better registration, better routing, and overall better connectivity

The issue with your budget is that if you want to be on a good network for gaming (premium bandwidth, good routing, etc.), your budget is too low for a dedicated server. You can find budget servers for your price, but they won't be on the best networks (premium bandwidth is expensive)

Well 1and1 lists that the servers are on full 100Mbps, though im not sure which bandwidth provider they use.

Yeah thats one reason I chose them because they are one of the few that have 100mbps connection on everything. I just dont know exactly what provider they have for it. I cant find that info right now.

Good Luck in your search mate.